Nov 3 (SO) SL golfer Kaya Daluwatta has put herself in an enviable position, sitting in second place with a gross score of 223, just one shot behind Vietnam’s An Lee, who leads with a score of 222 in the Thai Singha Junior World Tournament. The race for the championship has never been keener with R Ng from the Philippines also closely trailing at 224. Kaya’s impressive performance on the penultimate day has set the stage for an exciting conclusion, as she continues to apply pressure on An Lee. more..

Nov 3 (SO) With the tainted SL cricket administration allowed to carry on despite a change at the top in the govt, the sport’s global keeper has got down to serious business and appointed legal heavyweight Sumathi Dharmawardena as the new head of its Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) to root out match fixing in the international arena. Dharmawardena may be a stranger to most Sri Lankans but the International Cricket Council (ICC) is well aware that their new hunter of corrupt elements played a key role more..

Nov 3 (TM) The new Govt’s decision to revisit the X-Press Pearl disaster and initiate an investigation has raised concerns among legal experts handling the existing lawsuits in Singapore and the UK. They warn that any findings implicating SL authorities could jeopardise the country’s potential compensation claims, estimated in millions of dollars, for 2021 shipwreck. A prior investigation had absolved SL of responsibility in the disaster. more..

Nov 3 (DM) The govt has taken steps to complete the construction of the Central Expressway where discussions were held with the Japanese Ambassador to seek their assistance to complete its constructions, Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today. He said the govt will take steps to find solutions to the traffic congestion in Kandy. He said a discussion was held recently to review the progress of the projects which have been launched in Kandy and that the govt will take steps to resume more..

Nov 3 (CT) Prof. Rohan Gunaratna, a global counterterrorism expert, reiterated that the intelligence community should not bear the blame for the Easter attacks, which he termed as an operational failure—specifically, a failure of the Govt to act on critical intelligence, saying that the Sri Lankan intelligence community produced 337 reports concerning Zahran Hashim, ISIS, and Muslim radicalisation between January 2015 and April 2019. more..

Nov 3 (DM) Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) has stepped in regarding allegations of abusive conduct by a specialist at the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, Galle, urging immediate disciplinary action. In a letter to Director General of Health Services Asela Gunawardene, the AMS requested an impartial investigation into claims by two of its members, Dr. Jayamini Horathugoda and Dr. Harshani Dharmawardena, who reported experiencing verbal abuse by the doctor while more..

Nov 3 (AD) A decision has been taken to provide special security to former State Minister Lohan Ratwatte, who has been admitted to the prison hospital due to an illness. Prisons Commissioner Gamini B. Dissanayake stated that since Lohan Ratwatte is the former State Minister in charge of Prisons, this special protection has been provided according to court orders. He was arrested by the Mirihana Police on Oct 31 in Katugastota, Kandy, for allegedly using a luxury car that more..

Nov 3 (DM) 31 govt bungalows built during the colonial period and allocated to ministers as their official residences in recent times under different govts will be reserved for viable purposes in the future without assigning them to any govt official or minister. During the time of the previous govt, 28 of these state bungalows or mansions had been assigned as official residences of those who held ministerial responsibilities. more..

Nov 3 (ST) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake will present a Vote on Account (VoA) in his capacity as Minister of Finance during the first sitting week of the new Parliament this month. The VoA will ensure the continuation of govt services for four months until next April, after which the govt will present the budget for 2025. The Finance Ministry is compiling the VoA, according to a senior Treasury official. He said it would be presented to Parliament once the new Cabinet approved it. more..

Nov 3 (ST) Questions are being raised about the money wasted on developing a major digital economy strategy six years ago. In mid-Dec 2017 the Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure, with the support of McKinsey & Company, embarked on the process of developing SL’s Digital Economy strategy, an initiative to enable Sri Lanka to scientifically identify appropriate opportunities for promoting Sri Lanka’s Digital Economy and the key enablers to promote more..

Nov 3 (ST) SL’s fake websites and phishing game have scaled up in numbers. Financial Sector Computer Security Incident Response Team (FinCSIRT), a part of Lanka Pay, has pulled down at least 50 fake phishing websites defrauding the gullible public, a top official said. “These scams have been there for some time. We have noticed them scaling up in the past few months. Many phishing attacks have been reported to us,” Channa De Silva, CEO FinCSIRT and Director Lanka Pay said. more..

Nov 3 (ST) The govt has decided to maintain its own buffer stocks of paddy as a countermeasure against large-scale mill owners who are holding back stocks, resulting in a shortage of rice and an increase in prices. Agriculture Ministry Secretary M.P.N.M. Wickremasinghe said the current fluctuation of rice prices was because large mill owners had significantly reduced the supplies to the market to create an artificial shortage. He said the govt had decided to buy 300,000 MT of paddy more..

Nov 3 (TM) Despite the Govt-enforced regulated price of Rs. 220 per kilo for nadu rice, market prices continue to exceed this amount, averaging approximately Rs. 235 per kilo. When contacted, CAA Chairman Hemantha Samarakoon stated that the reasons for the higher prices of nadu rice could not be pinpointed. Samarakoon explained that millers had indicated that they could not sell the rice at the regulated price due to their more..

Nov 3 (SO) Officials of the Road Development Authority (RDA) in Badulla, Pradeshiya Sabha, Badulla District Secretariat, and the Uva Province Governor’s office held a joint discussion on improving the road infrastructure on the Dunhinda-Badulla road where Friday’s bus tragedy claimed the lives of two female students of the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) students and injured 41 others seriously. KDU has made arrangements for the funerals of the deceased students, more..

Nov 3 (AD) Minister Vijitha Herath says that six individuals who allegedly acted in a manner that posed a threat to national security and the safety of tourists have been arrested, and that investigations are being carried out. A foreign national is also among the arrestees, the minister revealed. He stated that the suspects have been arrested in connection with the intelligence information received indicating a potential attack in the Arugam Bay area, as well as incidents involving more..

Nov 3 (ST) The unusual political hype ahead of Sept 21 prez election appears to have evaporated markedly with just eleven days to go for the parliamentary elections. There is some suspense over the date—Nov 14—after a rights group petitioned the Supreme Court. It argued that Nov 14, announced first by Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake, was not within the law specified for elections. more..

Nov 4 (DM) Today, I mark my one hundred and fiftieth Red Notes column. As I started writing this column, I reflected on if and how I should continue on this twice-a-month weekend preoccupation. If it were cricket, at a century and a half, I would have to consider if the pitch is changing and the light is fading, and how long to continue batting before getting all out or retiring. But what about in writing? Am I steady with my strokes; how is the world changing, and is anybody even reading? more..

Nov 4 (GV) During this campaign year, there are various discourses by political parties and alliances about how to develop the country or bring development in order to address the current problems faced by the people, institutions and the government? Central bank has its own formulae to address the debt problem. NPP which is headed by Prez Anura Dissanayake has suggested improvement of local production along with support for export-oriented manufacturing. more..

Nov 4 (SO) I have written about the state of affairs of SL diplomacy as an outsider previously, the last time being in 2020. I thought of writing again as almost everything I had raised then remains largely unaddressed. Moving on from the challenges of our recent past, I look at the present juncture of our country as a moment of relative hope for a new beginning if we, for once, resolve to think and act smart. It is in this context that more..

Nov 4 (CT) There is an episode in the popular British ITV sitcom, Mind Your Language of the seventies. “It is comforting to know that my years at Oxford were not wasted,” says an Arab Sheikh to Ms. Courtney, the prude correspondent of the language school that teaches English to foreigners in London. Today, Prez Anura Dissanayake should be feeling the same way about his two-decade-long parliamentary experience and regret not being able to serve as a minister longer than a few months more..

Nov 4 (DM) NDF Gampaha District Candidate Ruwan Wijewardene spent some of his busy time with the Daily Mirror to talk about the upcoming General Election where he said people still have some faith in the previous administration headed by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe despite the defeat at the recently concluded Prez Election. “What people expected from the new President is not what they have got. The economy is still a great issue, especially the debt. more..

Nov 4 (CT) Not so long ago, a pall hung over the country’s poultry industry, with the fear of avian influenza infection, as the Govt at the time decided to import eggs from neighbour India. Sri Lanka, till now, has no record of the deadly infection which had led to the destruction of chicken farms on a large scale. The country, however, has not been so lucky in the case of yet another deadly infection, has dealt a deadly blow to piggeries more..

Nov 4 (Island) It has been a month since Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed the presidency, a month since the NPP claimed its place in history as the first party from outside of the political establishment to win a presidential election in Sri Lanka. Two weeks from now, the NPP will face another election, this time parliamentary. Depending on the results it gets, we will know whether the people approve of the NPP’s actions over the last four weeks and if they want it to continue. more..

Nov 4 (Island) Many are those who are tut-tutting over the latest fuel price revision, which has not brought any relief to the general public; trishaw drivers, who served as the JVP-led NPP’s grassroots propaganda foot soldiers, as it were, are prominent among them. Quite a few of them are openly critical of the NPP govt. Securing popular mandates in elections is one thing, but delivering what they are obtained for is quite another. SL voters are a fastidious lot known for their impatience to more..

Nov 4 (ST) It would be better for former Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe and more importantly, for the democratic health of SL if he retires gracefully from the political stage, sooner rather than later. Effectively Mr Wickremesinghe has become Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake-led NPP’s strongest ally, it seems. His disingenuous if not discordant ramblings, including a satirical offer to teach the Constitution to the NPP’s transitional Cabinet of 3, only aggravates public distaste towards more..

Nov 4 (FT) Arugam Bay. Where the beaches wear gold and the waves whisper, rasp and roar, beckoning the visitor mysteriously. Those who are enamoured follow the call and go on an enticing, tumultuous, frothy sea borne journey of highs and lows that we call surfing. It is a surface water sport that is popular globally and which has existed from ancient times although the manner in which it is carried out is different in modern times where a surfing board is used whereas earlier more..

Nov 4 (DN) Sri Lanka led by Lahiru Madushanka won their second Hong Kong Cricket Sixes title, and first since 2007, after beating Pakistan by three wickets in the final with one over to spare played at Mission Road ground Hong Kong yesterday. It was a superb all round performance by SL team while they restricted five time champions Pakistan for 72 for 6 wickets in 5.2 overs. Two bowlers paceman Dhananjaya Lakshan more..

Nov 4 (FT) COYLE last week held its landmark 2024 Leadership Forum at Shangri-La Colombo, uniting thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and visionaries to shape the future of business. Designed to inspire the next generation of trailblazers, the event brought together influential voices in the world of entrepreneurship and business strategy, setting the stage for an extraordinary day of knowledge sharing and forward-thinking ideas. This year’s forum was headlined by Ebraheem Al Samadi, more..

Nov 4 (FT) The Sri Lanka-Canada Business Council (SLCBC) of The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce successfully concluded its nine-member trade and investment mission to Canada, strengthening bilateral ties and exploring trade, investment, and allied opportunities in key sectors. Held from 14 to 22 October, the mission was led by SLCBC President Priyantha Chandrasekara and included constructive exchanges with Canadian business leaders, govt officials, academic institutions, more..

Nov 4 (ST) The Court of Appeal suspended the arrest warrant issued by the Matale High Court against present SLC Chief Selector Upul Tharanga, who failed to appear in courts as he was out of the country participating in a cricket competition. On Oct 16, the Court of Appeal bench comprising of Justice M.T. Mohammed Laffar and Justice P. Kumararatnam, issued an interim order preventing the IGP, Immigration Controller and SIU Investigative Officers from arresting Tharanga at the airport more..

Nov 4 (FT) In recognition of his unwavering dedication, service to the community, and remarkable contributions to the betterment of society, his country, and the region through intellectual and social growth, Kandeban Balendran has been awarded the Outstanding Volunteer Leade-rship Award — one of the highest honours presented by the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) of Harvard Uni. Each year, Harvard celebrates the extraordinary contributions of Alumni Clubs more..

Nov 4 (FT) SL attracted nearly 136,000 tourists in October, marking a 25% YoY growth. It is also the highest October arrivals recorded in six years. Oct arrivals, totalling 135,907, represent an 11% increase over 122,140 arrivals in September, showing signs of improvement post-visa crisis, though still missing the monthly target of 155,070 set by the SLTDA. October’s shortfall extends a trend seen throughout 2024, where monthly targets more..

Nov 4 (FT) Prof. Anil Jayantha claimed that the majority of debt borrowed (86%) between 27 Sept and 15 Oct was used to service existing debt obligations. Between 27 Sept and 15 Oct, Govt raised Rs. 461.5 billion through three Treasury bill auctions and an additional Treasury bond. This closely aligns with the Rs. 465.1 billion figure cited by Prof. Jayantha. Debt servicing during this period included Rs. 390.9 billion for maturing Treasury bills and Rs. 22 billion in bond coupon payments, more..

Nov 4 (EN) State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has made a profit of 20.7 billion rupees in the first half of 2024, as revenues fell due to other players, a Finance Ministry report said. The total import cost of oil by the CPV had fallen to US$ 1,235 million up to June 2024 from US$ 1,380 million last year, as volumes fell due to new entrants despite an uptick in prices. CPC revenues fell 20.1% to 544.3 billion rupees up to June 2024 from 681.5 billion rupees last yar. more..

Nov 4 (FT) SJB Colombo district candidate Eran Wickramaratne has urged President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to extend the suspension of parate executions until the end of December, beyond the current deadline of 15 Dec. Wickramaratne stressed that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Sri Lanka’s economy and deserve continued support during difficult times. more..

Nov 4 (FT) Sunil Jayarathne, newly appointed Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of SL (CAASL), will resume his duties today. He was the former Chairman/Director General of the National Enterprise Development Authority (NEDA) under the purview of the Industries Ministry and former Additional Director General of SL Customs. He holds over 37 years of experience in the Dept of Customs while also being the Media Spokesman. He led many Technical and Operational Committees more..